Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP

For more than 250 years, Freshfields has remained a constant at the top of the U.K. and European legal market. With 27 international offices, the firm has expanded its global reach and recently has become a player in the United States with growing offices in New York, Silicon Valley, and Washington, DC. Its U.S.-qualified team is now 300 strong, with roughly a third of the U.S. partnership and associate team having joined since the start of 2019.

Established Name, Modern Growth

Founded in 1743, Freshfields just might be the oldest international law firm in the world. Its first client was the Bank of England, which remains a firm client to this day. In 1801, the first Freshfield, James William Freshfield, joined the firm as a partner. Successive generations of lawyers in the Freshfields family would go on to work at the firm through the 1910s.

Freshfields opened its first U.S. office in New York in 1977, and opened its Washington, DC, office in 1998. In 2000, Freshfields merged with top German firms Bruckhaus Westrick Heller Löber and Deringer Tessin Herrmann & Sedemund, expanding the depth and breadth of its reach across Europe. Freshfields was also among the first western firms in Asia and now has a sizable presence there. Today, the firm boasts 2,800 lawyers in 27 offices around the world.

Multi-Jurisdictional Reach

Given its international scope, it is no surprise that Freshfields has a knack for tackling cross-border work. The firm also takes a multi-disciplinary approach to its work, approaching matters with an eye toward regulatory and risk management and collaborating across practices, helping clients with their most complex matters. 

In the U.S. specifically, the firm works across more than a dozen industries, including automotive, chemicals, consumer goods, energy and natural resources, financial institutions, financial sponsors, government and public sector, infrastructure, and transport, manufacturing, pharmaceuticals and healthcare, professional and business services, real estate, and technology.

The New York office specializes in corporate, domestic, and cross-border M&A, capital markets and corporate governance, international arbitration, white collar defense, civil litigation, and securities litigation, executive compensation and employee benefits, finance, intellectual property, life science transactions, restructuring & insolvency, tax, and tech transactions. Meanwhile, the Washington, DC, office hosts a powerful U.S. antitrust practice that is seamlessly integrated into Freshfields’ number one global antitrust practice and a leading CFIUS practice. The office also houses preeminent international trade, white collar defense, and international arbitration teams. 

On the opposite coast, the growing Silicon Valley office serves the region’s innovative client base by bringing the firm’s expertise in areas including corporate, domestic, and cross-border M&A, capital markets and corporate governance, securities litigation, executive compensation & employee benefits, intellectual property, life science transactions, and tech transactions.

Focus on Others

Pro bono is ingrained in Freshfields’ culture, and the firm does not distinguish between pro bono hours and client hours. According to the firm, “At Freshfields, we endeavor to make a positive impact through pro bono work promoting access to justice and access to opportunity.” The firm’s recent pro bono work has included representing individual victims of human trafficking, as well as southern border crisis work and COVID-19 small business advice. In 2020, Freshfields U.S. gave over 61,000 hours of pro bono advice.

• Represented Google on its $5.4 billion acquisition of Mandiant, and acting as lead counsel defending Google in The State of Texas, et al. v. Google, LLC, a lawsuit filed by 17 U.S. state and territory AGs.
• Represented the committee of independent directors of the board of Qualtrics in the $12.5B all-cash sale to a consortium of Silver Lake and CPPIB, the transaction marked the largest private equity buyout of 2023
• Represented 3M, several officers, and Board of Directors in securities class action and shareholder derivative suits based on alleged failure to disclose environmental liabilities; MTD securities class action granted in full with prejudice.
• Represented Grupo Agroinsumos in securing a $2.8 billion-plus award in ICSID arbitration against Venezuela—the second-largest award ever obtained against Venezuela.

• 7 practice and 21 individual U.S. rankings across corporate, litigation, and regulatory, and eight “Band 1” practice rankings globally, 2023—Chambers USA & Global
• 23 practice and 26 individual rankings across antitrust, corporate, dispute resolution and regulatory practices, 2023 – Legal 500 US
• Bloomberg Law DEI Framework, 2023 – Bloomberg Law
• 3 top practice and 19 individual rankings across litigation specialties, 2024 – Benchmark Litigation US
• #1 for cross-border M&A and top 10 for U.S. and global M&A and debt offerings, 2023—Bloomberg League Tables